I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario today and was hoping to see the Picasso Exhibit but I was told that that Exhibit was already gone but that there was a photographic exhibit of his life or something. I never did find it.
But I did see ancient art, carvings, classic painters such as Picasso (two one from his “pink” period and one of his cubism paintings), Manet, Monet, Group of Seven, lots of painters I didn’t know. A lot they never labelled for whatever reason. Maybe they don’t know who they are or maybe they figured it wasn’t worth it? Early Canadian, contemporary Canadian, Indigenous art. I just wandered from room to room. Looking for a connection but not really able to find one. There were some I liked more than others. Some were violent, some were nudes, a lot had biblical themes and Catholic themes for which you’d probably have to have a good understanding of the bible to appreciate which I don’t.
I went about myself. I should have maybe taken a tour so I could ask questions.
I feel a bit lost now because I don’t have anyone to talk to it all about and I don’t feel I appreciated or understood it enough. If I could have just seen the Picassos I thought I was going to see, I might have had a chance.
Years ago I saw the Barnes Exhibit and I feel I did appreciate it more. There were so many of the old masters. Maybe it’s the Gallery I didn’t find impressive and they way they had everything arranged. It has relied on many donations and each room seemed to be donated by one person or another and was named after them. There was very little theme and in most cases very little about the painting other than artist name, year and media. Not what it meant.
Most of the so called modern art is just crap, at least their pieces are. A bookshelf made of plastic. A wooden ramp and a ramp that looks like a case. A roller coaster made of couch cushions with a bed at the end? A girder you are supposed to sit on. A metal window with a slit in it. Just silly crap. Oh and a painting that appears to have been done with painter’s tape in different coloured blocks and one just blank canvas, all white. No name. Perhaps the artist was too ashamed. Or maybe it’s invisible and we’re supposed to imagine our own painting.
They did have a rather good selection of ship models. None of the Picton Castle or even The Bluenose. But there lots of nice war ships and models of ships long since destroyed by war, fire or just broken up as they got older.
Anyway it was an experience. There ya go.
